AUSTIN – On Aug. 19, the Austin American-Statesman published an op-ed titled “Defeating the Many Faces of Terrorism Requires Enterprise Thinking” that explains the changing face of terrorism and the urgent need for an evolving approach to domestic counterterrorism efforts that includes greater collaboration between all levels of government.
The op-ed was written by Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, former chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force (ret.) and current president and CEO of Business Executives for National Security; Michael Chertoff, executive chairman and co-founder of the Chertoff Group and the former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; and Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The op-ed noted:
“Within the span of one month, 14 Americans — nine parishioners at the Emanuel A.M.E. Church and five servicemen in Chattanooga, Tennessee — died at the hands of murderers who seemed to have followed the modus operandi of modern-day terrorists, an M.O. increasingly characterized by self-inspiration and often fueled by social media.”
“These two attacks illustrate in lurid detail that the terrorist threat confronting our nation is dynamic and is not an aberration of just one entity or ideology. Terrorism has many faces; searching in dark alleys for a single face has tragic consequences.”
“The events in Charleston, South Carolina, meanwhile highlighted another face of the terrorist threat; no one ideology has a monopoly on extremism or hate. Indeed, the New American Foundation recently released a study that found nearly twice as many Americans since 9/11 have died in attacks by far right or racist groups rather than Islamic extremists: 48 to 26.”
“The increased coverage of the many faces of terrorism should bring an increased focus on today’s threat and greater collaboration between federal, state, and local authorities to address them. The two most recent attacks, compounded with the New American Foundation study and others with similar findings, highlight the need for a domestic security apparatus that is more comprehensive and agile — in short, an enterprise approach to domestic counterterrorism.”
“These characteristics portray an increased complexity and breadth of combating today’s threat. The threat is a hydra that is not subordinated to a single organization or figurehead that we can target and destroy. Rather, to defend against this hydra, we need an increasingly effective flow of threat information.”
“Creating a domestic security enterprise that keeps pace with the evolving threat requires additional tools, improved skills and superb awareness. Terrorism has many faces. And we need a domestic counterterrorism enterprise that can see and address them all effectively.”
### (HQ 2015-96)